Cationic oligopeptides having microbicidal activity

ABSTRACT

Novel microbicidal compositions are provided which find use as preservatives, disinfectants, antigens and the like. Particularly, cationic oligopeptides of up to about thirty-five amino acids are provided having amino acid sequences substantially comparable to the amino acid sequences of cationic oligopeptides produced by macrophage. A conserved framework structure is provided. 
     The invention described herein was in the course, or under a grant from the United States Public Health Service and the National Institutes of Health.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

There is a continued interest in the development of novel microbicides which do not have adverse effects on the host, but have high potency against an undesirable pathogen or other microorganism. One area of interest in locating compounds which are microbicidally active are naturally occurring compounds which a host uses in its natural defense. The function of alveolar macrophages in host defense is well documented and numerous reports have been made describing their microbicidal proficiency. See particularly Hocking and Golde, N. Engl. J. Med. (1979) 301:580-587, 639-645. However, relatively little is known concerning the microbicidal mechanisms used by the alveolar macrophages. Rabbit granulocytes have been shown to contain microbicidal lysosomal cationic proteins, certain of which kill microorganisms. As macrophages and granulocytes are thought to arise from a common stem cell and as these cells contain certain constituents in common (e.g. lysozyme), alveolar macrophages appear to be a potential source of compounds having microbicidal activity.

In order for naturally occurring compositions to be useful, there are many criteria. If one is to synthesize an oligopeptide, it is desirable that the number of amino acid units be relatively small. While hybrid DNA technology offers an opportunity to make large proteins, where a microbicidal protein is of interest, the toxic effect of the product on the host evidently creates difficulties in its economic synthesis. Secondly, the microbicidal compound should be independently active and not require the presence of a number of other materials for its activity. Where only a mixture of materials have the microbicidal activity, formulation problems can become severe. Thirdly, one is concerned with the environment in which the naturally occurring compound is active, that is, whether the naturally occurring compound can be formulated in such a way as to be acceptable to the host to be protected from the invading microorganism. Furthermore, by determining the amino acid composition and specific sequence, the peptide may be varied to enhance such properties as stability to degradation, biocidal activity, spectrum activity, and the like. Compounds having biocidal activity against a wide variety of microorganism are particularly important where there is no adverse effect on the host.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Zeya and Spitznagel, J. Bacteriology (1966) 91:755-762 describe cationic proteins of polymorphonuclear leukocyte lysosomes from guinea pigs. Zeya and Spitznagel, Science (1966) 154:1049-1051, describe the antimicrobial specificity of leukocyte lysosomal cationic proteins. Zeya and Spitznagel, J. of Exp. Med. (1968) 127:927-941, describe arginine-rich proteins of polymorphonuclear leukocyte lysosomes from rabbits. Patterson-Delafield et al., Infection and Immunity (1980) 30:180-192, report the isolation in impure form of microbicidal cationic proteins from rabbit alveolar macrophages. Patterson-Delafield et al., Infection and Immunity (1981) 31:723-731 (published Jan. 23, 1981) reports amino acid composition and functional attributes of impure microbicidal cationic proteins from rabbit alveolar macrophages. See also the references cited therein. Selsted et al., J. of Biol. Chem. (1983) 258:14485-14489, describe MCP-1 and MCP-2. See also, Lehrer et al., Infection and Immunity (1983) 42:10-14.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Novel antimicrobial oligopeptides are provided, having sequences comparable to cationic oligopeptides found in macrophage. Particularly, the antimicrobial compounds have high cysteine and basic amino acid content, particularly arginine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 illustrates the effect of the peptides of the present invention on Vero cells infected with HSV-1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Microbicidal cationic proteins are provided having high cysteine and arginine content and consisting of cationic proteins derived from macrophages and granulocytes, fragments containing antimicrobial activity, and modified oligopeptides, having one or more amino acids substituted by a different amino acid. The naturally occurring oligopeptides are characterized by having six cysteines and four arginines, which are substantially conserved, and generally having not more than five amino acids having rings, particularly having not more than two aromatic amino acids and not more than two azole rings. The cysteines and arginines are dispersed throughout the oligopeptide, so that the cysteines provide for the opportunity for extensive crosslinking, intramolecularly and intermolecularly, covalently and non- covalently, and the arginines provide for positive charges throughout the molecule at a wide range of pHs, so as to be highly cationic. The subject compounds may be readily attached to a wide variety of other compounds, both poly(amino acids) and non-proteinaceous compounds through one or more sulfur linkages or peptide linkages.

For the most part, the compounds of this invention will have molecular weights in the range of about 3000-4000, usually 3600-3900 daltons. The subject compounds will show antimicrobial activity against a wide range of organisms, including viruses, bacteria and fungi.

The framework polypeptide will for the most part have the following formula: ##STR1## wherein:

Z is bonded to the terminal amino and may be an acyl group, usually acyl of from to 1 to 6 carbon atoms, particularly having an amino substituent, more particularly alpha-amino, e.g. amino acid, alkyl of from 1 to 3 carbon atoms, usually methyl or a protective group e.g. t-butyloxycarbonyl;

aa intends amino acid and the superscript the position of the amino acid, with the proviso that there may be an additional amino acid between aa⁹ and the cys which would otherwise be aa¹⁰, with all of the subsequent superscripts increased by one digit when counting for the actual composition, both in the above formula and in the subsequent definitions; the additional amino acid after aa⁹ will be an aliphatic amino acid, particularly having an alkyl group of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, more particularly leucine; and

amino acids 1*, 4, 17, and 22*, being aliphatic neutral amino acids, where the amino acids with the asterisk are unsubstituted aliphatic amino acids, and the other amino acids being unsubstituted or hydroxyl substituted, i.e., serine and threonine;

amino acids 7 and 25 are either unsubstituted aliphatic amino acids or basic amino acids;

w is the terminal hydroxyl, amino, or a peptide of from one to six, usually one to three, more usually one to two, amino acids, having a basic aliphatic amino acid, arg or lys, at the N-terminus, where the amino acids may be added to enhance one or more properties of the oligopeptides;

the remaining amino acids are neutral, acidic, basic, polar, aromatic or heterocyclic amino acids.

The neutral amino acids, namely the unsubstituted aliphatic amino acids glycine and alkyl substituted glycines, have alkyl groups of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, i.e., alanine, valine, leucine and isoleucine, and the chalcogen substituted amino acids have oxy and mercapto substituents, particularly methylthio, i.e., serine, threonine, cysteine and methionine (usually cysteine will not be included in this grouping).

The acidic amino acids are aspartic and glutamic acid.

The basic amino acids are the aliphatic amino acids arginine and lysine.

The polar amino acids are asparagine and glutamine.

The aromatic amino acids are phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan.

The heterocyclic amino acids are histidine, proline and hydroxyproline.

A preferred group of polypeptides has:

aa¹ val or gly;

aa² val, ile, arg, ser or phe;

aa⁴ ala, val or thr;

aa⁷ basic amino acid, particularly arg and lys, or gly;

aa⁸ ala, arg, gln or phe;

aa⁹ leu (includes 21eu), phe or ser;

aa¹¹ leu, pro, ser or gly;

aa¹² pro, asn, lys, phe or ser;

aa¹³ arg, leu, ser or gly;

aa¹⁶ arg, phe or ala;

aa¹⁷ ala, ser or ile;

aa¹⁹ phe, tyr, asp or ser;

aa²¹ arg, lys or thr;

aa²² ile or val;

aa²³ arg or asn;

aa²⁵ arg, ala or val;

aa²⁶ ile or arg;

aa²⁷ his, tyr or phe;

aa²⁸ pro, val or thr;

aa²⁹ leu, arg or phe;

aa³² arg, ser or pro; and

w 0-2 arg, particularly 1 to 2.

Usually, there will be not more than four, more usually not more than two aromatic amino acids and usually not more than two acidic amino acids, usually from one to two acidic amino acids, in the preferred compositions. Particularly, only one oligopeptide will have four aromatic amino acids, particulary phe and tyr, usually two each.

One group of compounds coming within this invention will have the following formula: ##STR2## wherein:

Z' is methyl, acetyl or other amino capping group, the Z' indicating the N-terminus of the oligopeptide, there being zero to two Z' groups;

m is 0 or 1;

amino acids are designated as aa and their position in the oligopeptide indicated by the super Arabic number, where the amino acids 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 17, 22, 26, and 29 are all neutral amino acids, usually resulting in hydrophobic regions in the polypeptide, being aliphatic amino acids having either hydrogen or an alkyl group of from one to five carbon atoms at the alpha position or having a chalcogen substituent, which is generally hydroxy or methylthio;

amino acids 12, 27 and 28 are heterocyclic, with 12 and 28 being proline or hydroxyproline and 27 being histidine;

amino acid 19 is an aromatic amino acid, particularly phe; and

amino acid 13 is either an aliphatic amino acid as described above or a basic amino acid, particularly either leu or arg.

Of particular interest are amino acids 4, 8 and 17, being either glycine or alanine, with the remaining of the neutral amino acids being the aliphatic amino acids valine, leucine or isoleucine.

Another group of compounds of particular interest has the following formula: ##STR3## wherein:

Z' has been defined previously;

aa² and aa¹² are chalcogen substituted amino acids, particularly ser or phe;

aa⁷ is arg or gly;

aa⁹ is phe or leu-leu (21eu);

aa¹⁷, aa¹⁹, and aa²⁸ are chalcogen substituted amino acids, particularly the hydroxy substituted amino acids ser and thr, particularly with aa¹⁷ and aa¹⁹ being ser and aa²⁸ being thr; and

aa²² is an aliphatic amino acid of from 5 to 6 carbon atoms, particularly val or ile;

aa²⁹ is leu;

where the order in which the amino acids are named indicates the preferred association in the polypeptide.

The remaining oligopeptides of interest have thirty-four amino acids, have the conserved amino acids, where aa³, aa⁵, aa¹⁰, aa²⁰, aa³⁰ and aa³¹ are cys; aa⁶, aa¹⁵ and aa³³ area arg; aa¹⁴ is glu; and aa¹⁸ and aa²⁴ are gly, where there is a repeated amino acid at aa⁹, in effect aa⁹ and aa^(9a) being neutral amino acids, particularly leu. Otherwise, the amino acids vary widely.

A preferred group of oligopeptides of this invention related to peptides from alveolar macrophages has the following formula: ##STR4##

A preferred group of polypeptides related to polypeptides of rabbit neutrophils has the following formula: ##STR5## where the particular position of the amino acid above or below the line does not intend that those amino acids should be taken together, rather they may be interchanged, but the positions indicate a preferred composition.

Another group of polypeptides related to polypeptides of rabbit neutrophils has the following formula: ##STR6## where the same limitations concerning the positions above and below apply as indicated for the previous formula.

Quite evidently, one or more of the various amino acids may be exchanged for a different amino acid, without detrimentally affecting the biological activity of the oligopeptides. Furthermore, fragments may find use in providing for antimicrobial activity and avoiding the necessity of preparing a 32 or 33 amino acid oligopeptide. Furthermore, while the naturally occurring amino acids are the L-stereoisomers, it is known that one can obtain advantages by replacing one or more glycines or alanines with the unnatural D-alanine to resist degradation.

Another modification is that available carboxylic acid groups may be modified by amidification with ammonia or low molecular weight amines, e.g. alkylamines of from one to three carbon atoms, particularly methylamine. Furthermore, the terminal amino group may be modified by acylation, e.g. acetylation, alkylation, particularly with lower alkyl groups of from one to three carbon atoms, more particularly methyl, or with linking groups to link to another molecule, such as a protein or non-proteinaceous molecule. Convenient linking groups are dialdehydes, dicarboxylic acids, etc. Other available amino groups may also be sites for linking. Other modifications include the replacement of one or more arginines with lysines and glutamic acid with aspartic acid and vice versa.

The compounds are shown to have activity against a wide variety of microorganisms, such as bacteria, both Gram- positive and -negative, fungi, protozoa and viruses. Different compositions will have differing degrees of activity toward different organisms. The compositions can have opsonin activity, aiding in the phagocytosis of invading pathogens.

The oligopeptides may be used in a wide variety of compositions, depending upon their purpose. For example, small amounts of the oligopeptides may be combined with other proteins to act as preservatives to protect the proteins against bacterial degradation. Alternatively, the subject compositions may be used as preservatives and disinfectants in a wide variety of formulations, such as contact lens solutions, ointments, shampoos, medicaments, foods, and the like. The amount of the oligopeptide which is employed may be varied depending upon the nature of the other components, the degree of protection desired, and the use of the composition. Usually, the concentration will be at least about 0.01 weight percent and not more than about 5 weight percent.

Where the oligopeptides are to be used as antimicrobial agents, they can be formulated in buffered aqueous media containing a variety of salts and buffers. The salts will for the most part be alkali and alkaline earth halides, phosphates, and sulfates, e.g. sodium chloride, potassium chloride or sodium sulfate. Various buffers may be used, such as citrate, phosphate, HEPES, Tris, or the like, to the extent that such buffers are physiologically acceptable to the host which is being treated with the oligopeptides.

The salts will be generally present in from about 10⁻⁶ to about 5×10⁻² M. Ionic strength will generally range from about 10⁻⁶ to about 0.01, and usually from about 10⁻⁵ to about 5×10⁻³. The pH will generally range from about 6.5 to 8.0, more usually from about 6.5 to 7.8, with the effect attenuating with decreasing pH. In some applications, the oligopeptides will be dissolved in physiologic buffers.

Various excipients or other additives may be used, where the compounds are formulated as lyophilized powders, for subsequent use in solution. The excipients may include various polyols, inert powders or other extenders.

Depending on the nature of the formulation and the host, the subject compounds may be administered in a variety of ways. The formulations may be applied topically, by injection, e.g. intravenously, intraperitoneally, etc., nasopharyngeally, etc.

The subject oligopeptides can be obtained by synthesis, from alveolar macrophages and from polynorphonuclear leukocyte lysosomes. The subject cationic oligopeptides may also be found in other phagocytotic cells. The compositions can be obtained free of other materials present in their naturally occurring environment and can be used individually or in combination in any ratio.

The subject compositions can be obtained in purities of greater than about 99 weight percent, being free of cellular debris and host cell components which may be detrimental to the intended use of the subject compounds. Depending upon the method of preparation, small amounts of contaminants may be present from the mammalian cell source, usually not exceeding about 5 weight percent. For many applications, the purity will not be a significant factor. Where the polypeptides are made by synthetic means, a portion of the polypeptides will be shorter than the desired sequence and may differ in retaining blocking groups. Where hybrid DNA technology is employed lower unicellular microorganism debris or components of such organisms may be present, generally in less than 1 weight percent, usually in less than about 0.01 weight percent.

The alveolar macrophages may be obtained by lavaging the lung in situ after the animal is sacrificed by a toxic injection e.g. sodium pentobarbital. The lavage fluid is conveniently a supplemented phosphate-buffered saline having a pH in the range from about 7 to 8. The fluid is introduced serially to remove free macrophages and the washings combined and purified to remove cells other than the cells of interest. The total number of granulocytes is reduced to less than about 1% of the total number of cells. The number of macrophages is enhanced by injecting the mammalian host with complete Freund's adjuvant about 3 to 4 weeks before sacrificing the host. The cells are homogenized in an aqueous sucrose medium, generally from about 0.3 to 0.4M, unbroken cells and nuclei removed by centrifugation and after dilution, the homogenates are centrifuged at about 25-30,000×g at 4° C.

The fungicidal and other acid-soluble proteins are extracted using citrate or acetate, at about 0.005 to 0.lM, pH 2.5-3. After extraction, the solution is centrifuged again at about 25-30,000×g and the protein collected.

After concentration, the protein fraction is dialyzed against an appropriate buffer, followed by purification by gel filtration and gel electrophoresis, particularly with a polyacrylamide gel having a high amount of polyacrylamide, usually from about 12 to 18%, preferably about 15%. Also included in the gel is about 2 to 6M urea, preferably about 2.5 to 5M urea. The cationic proteins may be further purified by electro-elution using 0.5-2% acetic acid buffer containing 5-8M urea.

The following examples are offered by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

EXPERIMENTAL Materials and Methods Extraction of lysosome-rich fraction

Elicted rabbit alveolar macrophages were purified (≦1% granulocytes), and subcellular fractions were prepared as previously described (Patterson-Delafield et al., Infection and Immunity (1980) 30:180-192, which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference). A 27,000×g fraction, derived from approximately 10⁹ purified macrophages, was extracted with 10ml of 0.lM citric acid by stirring the suspended organelles for 2h at 4° C. The preparation was centrifuged at 27,000×g for 20min at 4° C., and the sediment was extracted as before. The combined supernatants contained approximately 2mg of protein per 10⁸ macrophages. The citric acid extracts were concentrated to approximately 1 ml by using an Amicon ultrafiltration unit with a UM 2 Diaflo membrane (Amicon Corp., Lexington, Mass.).

Precipitation of cationic proteins

The concentrates were dialyzed against two changes, 1L each, of 0.05M HEPES buffer (N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid; Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.), pH 7.5, for 24h at 4° C. This yielded a white, flocculent, biologically active precipitate, the "HEPES precipitate," which was recovered by centrifugation at 27,000×g for 20 min at 4° C. Neither increasing the concentration of HEPES buffer (0.01 to 0.1M) nor increasing the dialysis time (up to 72 h) increased the quantity of the precipitate. The HEPES precipitate was dissolved in 0.1M HCl and dialyzed against two changes, lL each, of 0.01 M HCl for 24h at room temperature. Dialyzed HEPES precipitate withstood storage at -20° C. for at least 2 months without losing microbicidal activity. Occasionally, a translucent precipitate, insoluble in 0.1M HCl, appeared after freezing and thawing. This was removed by centrifugation without concomitant loss of microbicidal activity.

Gel filtration

Dialyzed HEPES precipitate (1 ml, 2 to 3mg of protein) was applied to a plastic column (1.2 by 28cm) containing Bio-Gel P-10, 50-100 mesh (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Richmond, Calif.) that had been equilibrated at room temperature in 0.01M HCl. Loading and elution were accomplished at a constant linear flow rate, 6cm/h, of 0.01M HCl, and 1 ml fractions were collected. The effluent was monitored by measuring its optical density at 215nm (OD₂₁₅) and OD₂₂₅ in a Gilford Model 222A spectrophotometer and then calculating the difference (OD₂₁₅ -OD₂₂₅). Column fractions were also examined for fungicidal activity (see below). The single candidacidally active peak (peak 3) was pooled, lyophilized (this removed the HCl), suspended in 1 ml of water, and stored at -20° C. Preparations destined for subsequent microbicidal testing were stabilized by adding 0.1 mg of crystalline bovine serum albumin per ml before freezing. Such stabilized preparations retained full microbicidal activity for several months despite repeated freeze-thawing. Fractions to be further purified were stored without bovine serum albumin.

Fungicidal activity of column eluates was monitored by minor modifications of a dye exclusion assay (Lehrer et al., ibid (1975) 11:1126-1234). Briefly, C. parapsilosis was grown for 48h in tryptose phosphate broth (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.) at 32° C., harvested by centrifugation, and washed three times with sterile distilled water. The fungi were adjusted to 2.5×10⁷ cells per ml in 0.1M sodium citrate buffer, pH 6.3. A 50 μl sample of C. parapsilosis suspension was added to 10 μl of each column eluate fraction in a microtest plate (no. 3040; Falcon Plastics, Oxnard, Calif.) and incubated overnight at room temperature. Then 30 μl of an aqueous solution of trypan blue (0.2%) and eosin (0.1%), pH 6.4, was added to each well. After 1 h, the percentage of stained yeast cells was determined by examining wet mounts microscopically.

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

Analytical-disc native tube gels were cast with 15% acrylamide and electrophoresed at pH 4.3, 2 mA/gel, by using the procedure described in Lehrer et al., supra. Long urea gels, as described by Panyim and Chalkley, Biochemistry (1969) 8:3972-3979, which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, were used for the final purification step. Briefly, 15% polyacrylamide gels (0.5 by 25cm) containing 2.5M urea were polymerized with ammonium persulfate and preelectrophoresed at 2 mA/gel for 18h with 2.5M urea in 0.9M acetic acid. After pre-electrophoresis, a stacking gel (0.4ml) containing 2.5M urea was photopolymerized with riboflavin as described by Reisfeld et al., Nature (London) (1962) 195:281:283. Samples applied to the urea gels contained 100 μg (Lowry protein) of the fungicidal proteins eluted from the Bio-Gel P-10 column, 10% (vol/vol), glycerol, 2.5M urea, and 0.001% methyl green as tracking dye. Electrophoresis, 2 mA/gel, was performed until the dye front was lcm from the bottom of the gel. Analytical gels were stained for 1 h in 0.2% amido black dissolved in water containing 45% methanol and 9% acetic acid, and destained, by diffusion, in the same solvent. Alternatively, they were stained by the rapid Coomassie blue G-250 method of Reisner et al., Anal. Biochem. (1975) 64:509-516.

Localization of protein bands in preparative urea gels

After electrophoresis, the gels were removed from their tubes and quartered longitudinally. This indicator strip was stained with Coomassie blue G-250 until the protein bands were visible (a few minutes). Approximate R_(f) 's for microbicidal cationic proteins 1 and 2 (MCP 1 and MCP 2) were 0.82 and 0.78, respectively.

Using the stained gel slice as a guidestrip, a 2cm section from the unstained gels containing the two protein bands was removed and sliced transversely into 2mm sections that were individually immersed in 250 μl of water. After 12h, 50 μl of the eluted proteins plus 10 μl of 0.1M NaHCO₃ was re-electrophoresed on small analytical gels and stained to localize the bands. Gel eluates containing a single protein species were appropriately pooled and frozen. Eluates containing mixtures of the two proteins were reelectrophoresed on long urea gels and reprocessed as above. The pooled MCP 1 and MCP 2 acrylamide segments were separately pulverized and thoroughly eluted by twice agitating the suspension at room temperature for 12h with 5ml of water. The gel pieces were removed by centrifugation, washed twice with water, and filtered through an Amicon XM-100 membrane. The filtrates were combined and dialyzed against two changes, 1 L each, of 1 mM HCl for 24h at room temperature. The dialyzed proteins were concentrated to approximately 1 ml in a Speed Vac concentrator-100 (Savant Instruments, Inc., Hicksville, N.Y.) and stored at -20° C.

Densitometry.

MCP 1 and MCP 2 (eluted from 2.5M urea gels) and hen egg white lysozyme were quantitated by gel densitometry. The protein concentration of the individual cationic protein samples was measured by the method of Lowry et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1951) 193:263-275, with egg white lysozyme, (E₂₈₁.5^(1%) =26.4) as a standard. The proteins were applied to analytical 15% acrylamide gels (pH 4.3), electrophoresed, stained, and destained as described for amido black. The gels were scanned in a Gilford gel scanner, Model 2520, at 580nm at a scan rate of 0.5cm/h and a chart speed of 150cm/h. Densitometric traces were measured with a Keuffel & Esser model 62 0000 compensating polar planimeter (Keuffel & Esser, Morristown, N.J.). Estimates of concentration were done on gels whose samples were in the linear portion of the densitometric standard curve, as described below.

Amino acid analysis

Amino acid analyses were performed on a Durrum D-500 automatic amino acid analyzer by the method of Moore and Stein, Methods Enzym. (1963), 6:819, employing single-column methodology. Triplicate samples were hydrolyzed in 1.0ml of 6N HCl containing 20 μl of 5% (wt/vol) phenol for 24h at 110±2° C. in vacuo. Half-cystine content was determined as cysteic acid on separate duplicate samples after performic acid oxidation (Moore, J. Biol. Chem. (1963) 238:235-237). Threonine and serine contents were corrected upward 5 and 10%, respectively, for destruction during acid hydrolysis. Tryptophan content was not determined.

Microorganisms and microbicidal assays

Salmonella tvphimurium SL 4045 and Listeria monocytogenes were grown as previously described (Patterson-Delafield, supra). C. albicans 820 was cultivated in Sabouraud dextrose broth (BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, Md.). Overnight cultures (5ml) were grown in liquid medium with agitation at 37° C. A 1:50 dilution was made into 50ml of prewarmed medium contained in a 125ml Ehrlenmeyer flask, and this subculture was shaken at 37° C. until the midphase of exponential growth was attained. The mid-log-phase organisms were recovered by centrifugation, washed three times in assay buffer (see below), and suspended to a final cell density of 5×10⁶ /ml in that buffer. The assay buffer (ionic strength, 0.02) contained 0.01M sodium citrate, 5×10⁻⁴ M MgSO₄, 1.5×10⁻⁴ M CaCl₂, and 0.056M glucose (pH 6.3). Reaction mixtures (0.5ml) contained 5×10⁵ colony-forming units in buffer at 37° C. Microbicidal proteins were added last. Timed samples were removed and serially diluted in 0.05M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) containing the aforementioned additives. The dilution buffer was found experimentally to block the lethal expression of unadsorbed macrophage cationic proteins, allowing precise timing of the kinetics of microbicidal activity. The ionic strength of all buffers was measured with a Yellow Springs Instruments model 31 conductivity bridge, using NaCl solutions as standards.

An alternative purification procedure follows, which provides for substantially pure products.

Purification of MCP 1 and MCP 2

Lyophilized protein (6.6 to 9.6mg) was dissolved in 3.0ml of a solution of 1.0% acetic acid containing 4.5M urea (Pierce Chemical Co.). This material was subjected to preparative acid-urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in 3mm×160mm×200mm slab gels, using the system described by Panyim and Chalkley, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. (1969) 130:337-346. The resolving gel, of 12.5% acrylamide, was surmounted by a shallow (15mm), 7.5% acrylamide spacer gel that had been polymerized around a 3mm×18mm×140mm sample-well former. The use of this lower density spacer gel was found to be critical for avoiding band `tailing` at the resolving gel's edges. Preparative gels contained 5.0M urea and had an acrylamide/bis-acrylamide ratio of 37.5:1. The gels were pre-run overnight at a constant 125V with 0.9M acetic acid as the reservoir buffer, using clearance of methyl green (Matheson, Cole and Bell) to verify completeness of the process. The sample was electrophoresed toward the cathode at constant voltage, 125V, for approximately 7h until its methyl green dye (2 μg/ml of sample) had electrophoresed off the gel. The gel was then immersed for 30sec in a 0.1N NaOH solution containing 0.25% (w/v) eosin Y (Sigma Chemical Co.), and then rinsed for 30sec in distilled water. This brief exposure to eosin disclosed several bright orange bands, the most prominent of which corresponded to MCP 1, MCP 2, and lysozyme. The gel regions containing these bands were precisely cut from the slab with a pizza slicer (Thrifty Drug and Discount, Inc.) and stored at -20° C.

After approximately 2ml of a 7.5% acrylamide gel solution had been polymerized in a 15ml conical plastic centrifuge tube (Corning Glass Works), the tube's bottom was cut off about 1 cm from the end. The acrylamide plug, supported by the slanting walls of the tube, remained. After several such tubes were preelectrophoresized for 2h at 150V, their plug-containing tips were fitted with short sections, approximately 8 cm long, of dialysis tubing completely filled with 1% (v/v) acetic acid. After slices of the eosin-stained gel had been inserted into the plugged electro-elution tubes, they were filled to within 0.5cm from the top with 1% acetic acid containing 6.0M urea. Reservoir buffer, 1% acetic acid, was layered about the acetic acid/urea solution, and finally poured into the upper and lower electrophoresis chambers. Electrophoresis was performed at 100V for 16 h. During this electroelution, the eosin migrated anodally, and the peptides moved cathodally into the dialysis sac. The current was reversed for the final 2min of the procedure to abet recovery of any protein or peptide adsorbed to the dialysis membrane. The electro-eluted material was recovered, transferred to fresh tubing, dialyzed against 0.1% acetic acid, and stored at -20° C., or lyophilized.

Analytical Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis

The 1 mm analytical slab gels were stained for 1 h in a solution containing 0.1% Coomassie brilliant blue (Sigma) in acetic acid/methanol/water (10:30:60) and destained by diffusion in acetic acid/methanol/water (10:10:80). The acid-urea gels were identical to those described above with exception that a multiple sample well former was used.

The efficiency of the purification scheme was assessed quantitatively as follows. Briefly, analytical acid urea gels were loaded with various amounts of MCP 1 and MCP 2 standards as well as the crude starting material. After electrophoresis, gels were stained as described above, and the Coomassie-stained MCP 1 and MCP 2 bands were cut from the gel and eluted in 2.0ml of 60% formic acid for 24h

(Gibson and Gracy, Anal. Biochem. (1979) 96:352-354). The amount of Coomassie stain eluted was measured spectrophotometrically at 650nm, and bore a linear relationship to the amount of MCP loaded on the gel, in the range of 1 to 10 μg of peptide per band.

Estimations of Molecular Weight

The method of Hedrick and Smith (Arch. Biochem. Biophys. (1968) 126:155-164) was used to estimate the molecular weight of non-reduced MCP 1 and MCP 2. Briefly, the peptides and non-reduced standards were electrophoresed in a series of acid-urea gels with acrylamide concentrations of 10.0, 12.5, 15.0, 17.5, and 20%. The log of the migration (R_(m)) of MCP 1 and MCP 2, and of the standards was plotted against the acrylamide concentration; the slope (retardation quotient) is related to the protein/peptide molecular weight.

The sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel system described by Shapiro et al. (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. (1967) 28:815-820) was employed for molecular weight estimations of reduced MCP 1 and MCP 2, and that of Laemmli (Nature (London) (1970) 227:680-685) was used for purity assessment. Prestained, low molecular weight standards (Bethesda Research Laboratories) were used as standards in molecular weight determinations. Samples were reduced by boiling for 5min in sample buffer containing 2-mercaptoethanol.

Gel Filtration in Guanidine Hydrochloride

The apparent molecular weights of MCP 1 and MCP 2 were also determined by gel filtration on a 1.5×86.5cm Bio-Gel P-60 (100-200 mesh, Bio-Rad Laboratories) column equilibrated in 6.0M guanidine HCl, 0.05M Tris-HCl, pH 8.52 (Fish et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1969) 214:4989-4994). Purified MCP 1 and MCP 2, and calibration standards were reduced with dithiothreitol (DTT) and then carboxymethylated with an excess of iodoacetic acid (Sigma). The labeled peptides were separated from reaction products by passing the mixture over a Bio-Gel P-2 column (50-100 mesh, 1.5cm×26cm), equilibrated in 6.0M guanidine HCl, 0.05M Tris-HCl, pH8.52. MCP-containing fractions, which eluted at the void volume, were pooled, and used as such for chromatography on the P-60 column, or dialyzed against 0.1% acetic acid and lyophilized. Reduced and alkylated standards used for calibration were: horse heart cytochrome C (N =104, Sigma), aprotinin (N =58, Sigma), insulin B chain (N =30, Boeringer Mannheim), and insulin A chain (N =21, Sigma), where N =the number of amino acids in the peptide chain. Reduced and alkylated transferrin (MW =90,000), and methyl green were chromatographic indicators of the void and included volumes, respectively. In the case of the reduction and alkylation of MCP 1 and MCP 2, carboxymethylation was performed using [³ H]-iodoacetate (New England Nuclear) in order to generate isotopically labeled peptides.

The column was calibrated as described by Fish et al., supra. The method of Porath (Pure Appl. Chem. (1963) 6:233-244) was used for determining K_(d), the distribution coefficient: ##EQU1## where V_(e) is the position of the standard (or MCP) elution peak, V_(i) is the included volume, and V_(o) is the void volume. K_(d) was determined experimentally using the volume and/or time of peak elution by continuously monitoring the column effluent with an ISCO UA-5 recording absorbance monitor (A₂₈₀) in conjunction with an ISCO Model 328 fraction collector. A standard curve wherein K_(d) ^(1/3) was plotted against N⁰.555 was constructed (Fish et al., supra).

The K_(d) 's for [³ H]-MCP 1 and [³ H]-MCP 2. were determined by liquid scintillation spectrometry of column effluent fractions, using a Beckman Model LS 330 Liquid Scintillation Counter. Calibration standards, and V_(o) and V_(i) indicators were included with each loading of [³ H]-MCP 1 or [³ H]-MCP 2.

Chemical Analysis of MCP 1 and MCP 2

MCP 1 and MCP 2 were analyzed for free sulfhydryls by reaction with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate) (DTNB) in 6.0M guanidine hydrochloride, 0.05M Tris-HCl, pH 8.52 (Glazer et al. (1975) Chemical Modification of Proteins (Work, T.S. and Work, E. eds.) North Holland/American Elsevier). Carbohydrate content of MCP 1 and MCP 2 was determined by the phenol-sulfuric acid procedure (Dubois et al., Anal. Chem. (1956) 28:350-356). The tyrosine and tryptophan content of MCP 1 and MCP 2 was determined spectrophotometrically by the method of Edelhoch (Biochem. (1967) 6:1948-1954). Protein determinations using the Lowry (J. Biol. Chem. (1951) 193:262-275), o-phthalaldehyde (Robrish et al., Anal. Biochem. (1978) 84:196-204), and A₂₁₅ -A₂₂₅ (Murphy and Kies, Biochem. Biophys. Acta. (1960) 45:382-384) methods were compared. The absorbance spectra of MCP 1 and MCP 2 were recorded in a Beckman Model 24 dual beam spectrophotometer. For this analysis, the peptides were lyophilized and dissolved in 1 mM sodium acetate, pH 6.3.

The various methods of protein determination gave values which varied by no more than about 20% between methods. The average values of the various methods most closely approximated those determined by the microbiuret assay, which was the chosen method thereafter.

In the urea-containing SDS-PAGE system of Shapiro et al., the apparent molecular weights of reduced MCP 1 and MCP 2 was estimated to be 4700 and 4300 daltons, respectively. The observation that the apparent molecular weight did not decrease under reducing conditions suggest that the peptides exist as single polypeptide chains. Molecular weight determinations by gel chromatography of reduced and carboxymethylated MCP 1 and MCP 2 in 6.0M guanidine hydrochloride confirmed the results. The data showed that the reduced and carboxymethylated MCP 1 and MCP 2 eluted at the same V_(e). The elution peaks of both MCP 1 and MCP 2 were symmetrical, each corresponding to a single polypeptide chain with an average integer value of 41 amino acids. The molecular weights of MCP 1 and MCP 2 were calculated, based on the mean residue weight, M_(o) to be 4476±19 and 4395±15, respectively. The absence of tryptophan and tyrosine was indicated spectrophotometrically.

Titration of MCP 1 and MCP 2 with DTNB in 6.0M guanidine hydrochloride showed no evidence of oxidation, indicating the absence of available sulfhydryl groups. This observation is consistent with the other observation that neither MCP 1 nor MCP 2 reacted with iodoacetate without previous reduction. Neither MCP 1 nor MCP 2 contain any carbohydrate as assessed by the phenol-sulfuric acid assay. The test was performed under conditions whereby 0.5 glucose-equivalents per molecule of MCP would have been detected.

The neutrophil proteins (NP) were prepared substantially the same way as the macrophage proteins, with the following differences. Rabbit peritoneal neutrophils were extracted with 0.1M citric acid at 4° C. for 24h at a concentration of about 10¹⁰ cells per 50ml. The solution was then dialysed and electrophoresed as described for the MCP compounds, yielding five fractions. The fractions were then further purified and the fraction having 3A and 3B separated into two pure components by HPLC. A reverse phase C18 (Vidak) HPLC column was employed, eluting with solutions having from 2 to 28% by volume of 0.025% trifluoroacetic acid in acetonitrile diluted with an aqueous 0.025% trifluoroacetic acid solution. Elution took 30min yielding pure (>99% pure) neutrophil proteins which were lyophilized and sequenced.

The sequences of the oligopeptides demonstrating the conserved portions in boxes are set forth in Table I, where the second arg may be removed by tryptic or carboxypeptidase digestion.

A modified procedure was employed as follows, for obtaining the cationic proteins in a pure state.

Peptide Purification

The citric acid-soluble material obtained by extracting the 27,000×g postnuclear sediment or the whole sonicate was dialyzed exhaustively against 0.1% acetic acid in tubing (Spectrum Industries, Los Angeles, Calif.) with a molecular weight cutoff of 3500, lyophilized, and redissolved at 2-6mg of protein/ml in 1.0% acetic acid containing 3.0M urea. 0.5-1.5ml samples of this material were electrophoresed on acidic, urea-containing polyacrylamide gels, 3×160×220nm in size, for approximately 9h. Gels were subsequently immersed in a solution of 0.25% (w/v) eosin Y (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) in 0.1N NaOH for 30sec, thus disclosing up to 25 transverse magenta-staining bands of protein. Gel strips containing the five most cathodal bands were individually excised from eight simultaneously run gels, pooled, and subjected to electrophoretic elution. The eluted peptides were dialyzed against 1.0% acetic acid and lyophilized. Each of the electrophoretically fractionated peptides was subjected to further purification by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) on a Spectraphysics SP 8700 system equipped with a Rheodyne 7125 sample injector (2.0ml loop) a Waters 450 variable wavelength detector, a Kipp and Zonen BD 40 recorder, and a large pore (339 A) 1.0×25.0 cm Vydac 218 TP C-18 column. Water/acetonitrile gradients containing 0.025% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) were used in elution. A 0.46×25 cm C-18 column (μBondpak, Waters) was used for some analytical RP-HPLC runs.

Analytic Methods

Peptide purity was evaluated using RP-HPLC, acid-urea PAGE, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) PAGE. Estimations of peptide molecular weights were made based on the migration of purified samples in SDS-PAGE (Selsted et al., J. Biol. Chem. (1983) 258:14485-14489).

The subject compounds MCP 1 and MCP 2 were found to be effective against C. albicans, L. monocytogenes and S. typhimurium in order of decreasing effectiveness. At an ionic strength of 0.024, there was no significant change in effectiveness over the pH range from about 5.0 to 8.0 for C. albicans. In contrast, bacterial species were most susceptible to MCP-1 and MCP-2 between pH 6.5-8.0 and they showed substantially less susceptibility below pH 6.0. Ionic strength also influenced the peptides' direct antimicrobial activity. At higher pH levels, a precipitate forms. While pH did not have a significant effect, ionic strength did. In a representative experiment, 3 μg of a mixture of the two compounds per ml reduced the number of viable C. albicans by over 99% in 5min under standard conditions, as described previously. This was unaffected in the presence of 0.1M mannitol in the assay buffer. However, increasing the ionic strength to 0.05 reduced killing to approximately 60 % and increasing it to 0.08 prevented candidacidal activity. Of the three alkali metal halides employed, no difference was observed. Heating at 100° C. for 10min at a concentration of 10 μg/ml in assay buffer did not affect the compound's activity. It was found that MCP 1 is approximately 3-4 times as effective as MCP 2 against C. albicans.

The subject peptides were also tested and shown to be effective in restricting replication of viruses in human, rabbit and monkey cells. This effect was demonstrated by two experimental systems. One of these measured the peptides' ability to directly inactivate certain viruses [e.g., Herpes simplex, Type 1 (HSV-1), Herpes simplex, Type 2 (HSV-2), Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), etc.] The protocol for testing direct viral inactivation is as follows: Virus stock solutions, containing 10⁷ to 10⁹ plaque-forming units (PFU)/ml are incubated with various concentrations, 1-100 μg/ml, of MCP-1 or MCP-2 for 30 to 60 minutes at 37° C. in appropriate tissue culture (TC) media. Thereafter, the mixtures are serially diluted and plaqued on Vero monkey kidney cells. Exposure of HSV-1 (McIntyre strain) to 100 μg/ml of MCP-1 or MCP-2 for 60 minutes caused the number of PFU/ml to decline from 10⁷ PFU/ml to less than 10⁴ PFU/ml, in contrast to the control which showed little decrease in PFU/ml. MCP-1 and MCP-2 appeared to be equally potent in causing direct viral inactivation. Other viruses susceptible to direct inactivation by MCP- 1 and MCP-2 are HSV-2, VSV, vaccinia and influenza A.

In addition to direct inactivation, the peptides decrease the replication of viruses including HSV-1, HSV-2, VSV and cytomegalovirus (CMV) in otherwise permissive human fibroblasts (e.g., GM 2504 and MRC-5 cells) or rabbit and monkey kidney cells (Vero). When Vero cells are infected by HSV-1, the infected cells demonstrate prominent cytopathic effects (CPE) consisting of cell rounding with formation of multinucleated cells with premature cell death. When the cells are exposed to HSV-1 in the presence of 25 μg/ml of MCP-1, this CPE is almost completely prevented. These effects are illustrated by FIG. 1, which shows the appearance of Vero cells that are (a) uninfected, (b) infected with HSV-1 (McIntyre) at a MOI of 0.1, and (c) infected with HSV-1 in the presence of 25 μg/ml of MCP-1. The normal appearance of the Vero cells and the prevention of CPE are apparent.

This procedure is also performed quantitatively by the following protocol.

On day one, the cells, either human fibroblasts or monkey kidney, are set up. On day two, samples and interferon-α controls are diluted in TC media. The cells growth medium is replaced with the TC media in which the sample polypeptide or α-interferon (IFN-α) have been serially diluted and the cells exposed to these media overnight. On day three, the media are removed and the cells infected with virus, employing the series at different MOI. After infection, in one series the sample polypeptide containing medium is returned and in another series, fresh TC medium is employed. With VSV the control concentrations were 0.1, 1, and 10 U/ml, while with HSV the IFN-α concentrations were tenfold higher.

On day four, the cytopathic effect (CPE) is scored and the incubation is continued until 60-90% of the virus-infected cells manifest CPE (20-27 hours for VSV and HSV-2, 30-38 hours for HSV-1 and 5 days for CMV). At this point in time, the culture fluids were harvested and plaque formation was determined. The virus yields from test samples were compared to control wells.

In representative yield reduction studies, 25 μg/ml of MCP-1 caused a 4 log₁₀ reduction in VSV yield and a 3 log₁₀ reduction in HSV-1 yield, relative to untreated controls. In contrast, IFN-α caused a 0.6 log₁₀ decrease in HSV-1 yield when present at 100 IU/ml and a 6 log₁₀ decrease in VSV yield when present at 10 IU/ml in tests conducted with the human GM 2504 fibroblast cell line.

To test antibacterial action of the polypeptides, the following protocol was employed. Various species at 10⁷ bacterial cells/ml are incubated for 20min at 37° with 50 μg/ml of the candidate peptide. Colony counts (viable organisms) are made at the outset of the incubation--before addition of the candidate peptide--and after 20min of incubation with the candidate peptide. The results are found in Table II.

To further demonstrate antibacterial activity the following study was performed. The procedure parallels that reported in Lehrer et al., Infection and Immunity (1983) 42:10-14. Fourteen bacterial isolates, as shown in Table III, were cultivated for 16h at 37° C. in nutrient broth, mixed and subcultured by adding 1 ml to 49ml of fresh nutrient broth. The subculture was grown at 37° C. for 4h with shaking to provide midlogarithmic phase organisms that were washed twice with buffer by centrifugation (2000×g, 10 min), and then quantitated spectrophotometrically at 620 nm, with reference to previously established CFU/Optical Density relationships.

Bacteria were suspended and experiments were performed in 10mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4. In some experiments, buffers were supplemented with 0.14M NaCl ("high" ionic strength). The conductivities of the standard and NaCl supplemented buffers were 1.36 and 12.3mMHO, respectively, as determined with a Sybron/Barnstead PM-70 CB conductivity bridge. In some experiments, 10mM phosphate buffer with a pH of 5.8 and conductivity of 1.36mMHO was used. Peptide "stock solutions" were prepared at 500 μg/ml (microbiuret assay) in 0.01% acetic acid, and stored at -20° C.

Typically, incubation mixtures contained 1×10⁵ bacterial CFU and 5 μg of peptide in 100 μl of buffer. After incubation for 20 min at 37° C., 900 μl of the same buffer was added, and two additional serial tenfold dilutions were made with that buffer. Duplicate 100 μl aliquots from the three serial dilutions were spread over appropriate nutrient agar plates and incubated for 24-72 h to insure full colony development. Killing of microorganisms was expressed as the logarithm₁₀ N_(o) /N, where N_(o) represented the initial colony count and N represented the colony count after incubation with peptide. There was no significant alteration in colony count when any of the test organisms were exposed to peptide-free buffer for 20 min.

It is evident from the above results, that the subject compounds can be used as antimicrobials, having broad range effectiveness against a wide variety of organisms, including viruses, bacteria and fungi. Furthermore, because the subject compounds are naturally occurring, as well as being relatively small oligopeptides, they can be used in a wide variety of applications where long persistence is undesirable. The water solubility of the subject compounds permits them to be readily formulated in a wide variety of ways with numerous compositions to provide preservative and disinfectant activity. In addition, the oligopeptides may be prepared so as to have the same or substantially the same amino acid sequence of a particular host, so as to avoid immunogenic problems. The relatively small size of the oligopeptides permits their ready synthesis, either through recombinant DNA or using mechanical automatic synthesizers. Also, the conserved framework allows for substantial variation in composition while still retaining antimicrobial activity against selected organisms.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be obvious that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.

                                      TABLE I                                      __________________________________________________________________________          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9   10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19                 __________________________________________________________________________     NP-1 val                                                                               val                                                                               cys                                                                               ala                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               ala                                                                               leu cys                                                                               leu                                                                               pro                                                                               arg                                                                               glu                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               ala                                                                               gly phe               NP-2 val                                                                               val                                                                               cys                                                                               ala                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               ala                                                                               leu cys                                                                               leu                                                                               pro                                                                               leu                                                                               glu                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               ala                                                                               gly phe               NP-3a                                                                               gly                                                                               ile                                                                               cys                                                                               ala                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               phe cys                                                                               pro                                                                               asn                                                                               ser                                                                               glu                                                                               arg                                                                               phe                                                                               ser                                                                               gly tyr               NP-3b                                                                               gly                                                                               arg                                                                               cys                                                                               val                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               lys                                                                               gln                                                                               2 leu                                                                              cys                                                                               ser                                                                               tyr                                                                               arg                                                                               glu                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               ile                                                                               gly asp               NP-4 val                                                                               ser                                                                               cys                                                                               thr                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                                                               phe                                                                               ser cys                                                                               gly                                                                               phe                                                                               gly                                                                               glu                                                                               arg                                                                               ala                                                                               ser                                                                               gly ser               NP-5 val                                                                               phe                                                                               cys                                                                               thr                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               gly                                                                               phe                                                                               leu cys                                                                               gly                                                                               ser                                                                               gly                                                                               glu                                                                               arg                                                                               ala                                                                               ser                                                                               gly ser               __________________________________________________________________________                       20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34                 __________________________________________________________________________                   NP-1                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               ile                                                                               arg                                                                               gly                                                                               arg                                                                               ile                                                                               his                                                                               pro                                                                               leu                                                                               cys                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                 NP-2                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               ile                                                                               arg                                                                               gly                                                                               arg                                                                               ile                                                                               his                                                                               pro                                                                               leu                                                                               cys                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                 NP-3a                                                                              cys                                                                               arg                                                                               val                                                                               asn                                                                               gly                                                                               ala                                                                               arg                                                                               tyr                                                                               val                                                                               arg                                                                               cys                                                                               cys                                                                               ser                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                              NP-3b                                                                              cys                                                                               lys                                                                               ile                                                                               arg                                                                               gly                                                                               val                                                                               arg                                                                               phe                                                                               pro                                                                               phe                                                                               cys                                                                               cys                                                                               pro                                                                               arg                                 NP-4                                                                               cys                                                                               thr                                                                               val                                                                               asn                                                                               gly                                                                               val                                                                               arg                                                                               his                                                                               thr                                                                               leu                                                                               cys                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                                                                               arg                                 NP-5                                                                               cys                                                                               thr                                                                               ile                                                                               asn                                                                               gly                                                                               val                                                                               arg                                                                               his                                                                               thr                                                                               leu                                                                               cys                                                                               cys                                                                               arg                      __________________________________________________________________________      Amino acid residues/molecule: NP1/MCP-1, 33; NP2/MCP-2, 33; NP3a and NP3b      34; NP4, 33; NP5, 32                                                     

                  TABLE II                                                         ______________________________________                                                  Peptide, % Killing.sup.2                                              Organism.sup.1                                                                            MCP 1   MCP 2   NP 1 NP 2 NP 3A NP 3B                               ______________________________________                                         1.  S. albus   A       B     B    B    D     D                                 2.  S. aureus 502A                                                                            C       D     D    D    D     D                                 3.  S. pneumoniae,                                                                            A                                                                   Type III                                                                   4.  L. monocyto-                                                                              A       A     A    A    D     B                                     genes                                                                      5.  E. coli    C             B    B    D     C                                 6.  Ps. aeruginosa                                                                            A       A     A    A    A     A                                 7.  H. influenzae                                                                             A       A     A         B                                       8.  K. pneumoniae                                                                             A       A               A                                       9.  S. marscescens                                                                            B       B               C     B                                 10. Streptococcus      B          C                                                Group B                                                                    ______________________________________                                          .sup.1 1,2 Staphylococcus                                                      3 Streptococcus                                                                4 Listeria                                                                     5 Escherichia                                                                  6 Pseudomonas                                                                  7 Haemophilus                                                                  8 Klebsiella                                                                   9 Serratia                                                                     .sup.2 A >99% killing                                                          B 90-99% killing                                                               C 50-90% killing                                                               D <50% killing                                                           

                                      TABLE III                                    __________________________________________________________________________     Antibacterial Activity of Rabbit Granulocyte Peptides.sup.a,b                  Organism     Strain/Type                                                                           NP-1                                                                               NP-2                                                                               NP-3a                                                                              NP-3b                                                                              NP-4                                                                              NP-5                                    __________________________________________________________________________     Staphylococcus aureus                                                                       566    >4.1                                                                               >4.1                                                                               1.3 1.7 0.2                                                                               0.4                                     Staphylococcus aureus                                                                       502A   2.3 2.4 0.0 0.3 0.1                                                                               0.2                                     Staphylococcus aureus                                                                       J.F.   2.7 2.9 0.4 0.8 0.1                                                                               0.1                                     Staphylococcus epidermidis                                                                  UCLA-622                                                                              >4.1                                                                               >4.1                                                                               1.3 1.7 0.2                                                                               0.4                                     Streptococcus pneumoniae                                                                    Type III                                                                              3.8 >3.5                                                                               >3.5                                                                               >3.5                                                                               4.3                                                                               1.9                                     Streptococcus agalactiae                                                                    Type I-A                                                                              2.3 2.0 0.6 0.9 0.1                                                                               0.5                                     Streptococcus agalactiae                                                                    Type III                                                                              3.9 2.9 0.3 1.2 0.2                                                                               0.4                                     Listeria monocytogenes                                                                      450    2.1 2.1 0.2 4.3 0.1                                                                               0.2                                     Pseudomonas aeruginosa                                                                      PAO 579                                                                               >4.2                                                                               3.2 3.3 4.2 0.2                                                                               0.7                                     Escherichia coli                                                                            ATCC 29648                                                                            1.9 0.8 0.6 1.4 0.1                                                                               0.2                                     Klebsiella pneumoniae                                                                       ATCC 13883                                                                            3.0 1.1 2.4 3.4 0.2                                                                               1.2                                     Serratia marcescens                                                                         --     1.0 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.2                                                                               0.2                                     Hemophilus influenzae                                                                       Type 3A                                                                               >1.1                                                                               2.0 >1.1                                                                               0.7 1.3                                                                               1.2                                     Bordetella bronchiseptica                                                                   UCLA-342                                                                              0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1                                                                               0.0                                     pH 5.8                                                                         Streptococcus agalactiae                                                                    Type 1A                                                                               0.1 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.0                                                                               0.0                                     Listeria monocytogenes                                                                      450    0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0                                                                               0.1                                     Pseudomonas aeruginosa                                                                      PAO 579                                                                               0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0                                                                               0.1                                     Klebsiella pneumoniae                                                                       ATCC 13883                                                                            0.6 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.3                                                                               0.1                                     "High" ionic strength                                                          Streptococcus agalactiae                                                                    Type 1A                                                                               0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0                                                                               0.0                                     Listeria monocytogenes                                                                      450    0.1 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0                                                                               0.2                                     Pseudomonas aeruginosa                                                                      PAO 579                                                                               0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0                                                                               0.0                                     Klebsiella pneumoniae                                                                       ATCC 13883                                                                            0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0                                                                               0.0                                     __________________________________________________________________________      Legend for Table III                                                           .sup.a Bacteria were exposed for 20 min to 50 μg/ml of the indicated        purified granulocyte peptide under the standard conditions described in        the text.                                                                      .sup.b Bactericidal activity is shown as log.sub.10 N.sub.o /N, where          N.sub.o refers to the initial concentration of CFU/ml (typically 1 .times      10.sup.6) and N refers to the number of CFU/ml after the 20 min                incubation.                                                               

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for inhibiting microbial growth in an environment susceptible to said microbial growth, said method comprising:administering to said environment a microbial growth inhibiting amount of a cationic oligopetide of not more than about 35 amino acids having a sequence of the formula: ##STR7## wherein: aa¹ is val or gly; aa² is val, ile, arg, ser or phe; aa⁴ is ala val or thr; aa⁷ is arg, lys or gly; aa⁹ is leu, 21eu, phe or ser; aa¹¹ is leu, pro, ser or gly; aa¹² is pro, asn, lys, phe or ser; aa¹³ is arg, leu, ser or gly; aa¹⁶ is arg, phe or ala; aa¹⁷ is ala, ser or ile; aa¹⁹ is phe, tyr, asp or ser; aa²¹ is arg, lys or thr; aa²² is ile or val; aa²³ is arg or asn; aa²⁵ is arg, ala or val; aa²⁶ is ile or arg; aa²⁷ is his, val or phe; aa²⁸ is pro, tyr or thr; aa²⁹ is leu, arg or phe; aa³² is arg, ser or pro; and w is -02 arg.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said cationic oligopeptide is of the formula: ##STR8## where when two amino acids are indicated, either one may be employed at the position.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said cationic oligopeptide is of the formula: ##STR9## where when two amino acids are indicated, either one may be employed at the position.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said cationic oligopeptide is of the formula: ##STR10## wherein where two amino acids are indicated at a particular position, either amino acid may be employed.
 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said cationic oligopeptide is of the formula: ##STR11##
 6. A method according to claim 4, wherein cationic oligopeptide is of the formula: ##STR12##
 7. A cationic oligopeptide having antimicrobial activity and of from 32 to 34 amino acids and of the formula: ##STR13## wherein: aa¹ is val or gly;aa² is val, ile, arg, ser or phe; aa⁴ is ala, val or thr; aa⁷ is arg, lys or gly; aa⁹ is leu, 21eu, phe or ser; aa¹¹ is leu, pro, ser or gly; aa¹² is pro, asn, lys, phe or ser; aa¹³ is arg, leu, ser or gly; aa¹⁶ is arg, phe or ala; aa¹⁷ is ala, ser or ile; aa¹⁹ is phe, tyr, asp or ser; aa²² is ile or val; aa²³ is arg or asn; aa²⁵ is arg, ala or val; aa²⁶ is ile or arg; aa²⁷ is his, val or phe; aa²⁸ is pro, tyr or thr; and aa²⁹ is leu, arg or phe.
 8. A cationic oligopeptide according to claim 7 of the formula: ##STR14##
 9. A cationic oligopetide according to claim 7 of the formula: ##STR15##
 10. A cationic oligopeptide of the formula; ##STR16##
 11. A cationic oligopeptide according to claim 7 of the formula: ##STR17##
 12. In a formulation capable of supporting undesired microbial growth, the improvement which comprises including in said formulation in an amount sufficient to inhibit microbial growth, a cationic oligopeptide according to claim
 7. 13. A formulation according to claim 12, having a liquid carrier.
 14. A formulation according to claim 12, having a solid carrier. 